Two Trainers' Journey to the Ultimate Certification

Enter the Legendary Dragons

As part of this project, we stated that we would obtain and train every final evolution species of Pokemon for competitive play, as well as obtain them for our Pokedexes. Well, in this case, I’m having to go hunting in previous generations. It’s been a strange trip, but I’ve taken a small break from 5th Gen to go back to Platinum Version in order to obtain three of the Legendary Dragons for my Black Version Pokedex: Giratina, Dialga and Palkia.

For those of you also seeking out these legendary Dragons and not wanting to hack them, Platinum is the optimal place to obtain them. Why, you ask? The Platinum Version is the only game of all the 4th Gen versions that will allow the player to obtain all three of the Creation Trio dragons. Diamond and Pearl will only allow you to get two of them (Giratina and Palkia in Pearl, Giratina and Dialga in Diamond), and HeartGold/SoulSilver only allow you to get one, and that is only if you have the special event Arceus in your party, have completed the game in its entirity, and complete the Sinjoh Ruins post-game quest.

In Platinum, while you only truly meet Giratina pre-Hall of Fame in the Distortion World, you can go back after fighting the Elite Four and defeating the Champion, Cynthia, and re-climb Mt. Coronet to challenge both Dialga and Palkia. To do so, you are required to posess the Adamant and Lustrous Orbs, found on the 4th floor of the Coronet dungeon after climbing a waterfall, and bring them to the Spear Pillar, where Cyrus summoned Dialga and Palkia and, by accident, Giratina. There, you will fight Dialga first, and immediately after, Palkia will show up and attack. Both are high-level Legendaries, so one must be cautious.

For the other non-5th Gen Legendary Dragon, Rayquaza, one must, unfortunately, play through one or more entire games to obtain it legitimately. If you do not know someone who has completed HeartGold or SoulSilver, the easiest, though potentially most difficult, way is to play through the 3rd Gen Emerald Version and catch Rayquaza in his dungeon, then transfer him up through 4th Gen and into 5th. This method is difficult, though, because it requires one to either have a DS Lite or a GBA and a copy of Emerald, which is somewhat difficult to find in stores and can only be readily obtained via eBay, and a 4th Gen game and another DS to migrate Rayquaza to 4th and then transfer to 5th. The only other way is to complete HeartGold or SoulSilver, catch the Kyogre or Groudon at the ends of both respective versions, and trade one to the other and show Professor Oak both of them in your party (Note: Professor Oak is not interested in any other Groudon or Kyogre – the two legendaries have to be ones that were caught in HeartGold or SoulSilver ONLY, any other kind will not start the quest) to obtain the Jade Orb and go off to catch Rayquaza.

As for the 5th Gen Dragons, well, the same rule applies as in Diamond and Pearl: In either Black or White, one can only receive Reshiram and Kyurem (Black) or Zekrom and Kyurem (White) in either version. One needs to either buy both versions and play through them both, or find someone willing to trade over theirs for something in return. Again, it’s not very pleasent, but that’s just how it goes if you want all three. If you played your games right, by the end, one should have all seven Legendary Dragons, after much effort and time spent: Rayquaza, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Reshiram, Zekrom and Kyurem. I know I’ve linked to it once before, and I’m sure someone will see Lance say it again, these Dragon types are mythical Pokemon, and they’re hard to catch and raise, but their powers are superior.